Point-to-Point Weekly 10-04-2024

PRETTY FLAMINGO

FlamingoGroveflies home on her debutatTattersalls withthe salesringat Aintree the next destination Report, page4

DEREK O’CONNOR

‘John Walsh remembers Corach Rambler as aweak horse but he began mature and joined Lucinda Russell for a£17,000 purchase price that has turned out to be one of the great bargains of recent years’ Page 2 R to

UNCHECKABLE won the Prix Journaliste-Gr.3 in France lastWednesday

Wednesday,April 10,2024

DerekO’Connor Straight to thePoint CanIrish pointing addtoits GrandNationalrollofhonour?

PULLEDup, pulledup, fifth of six:not agreat starttoany career over jumps. Butsometimes greatthings canhappen from small beginnings.That has beenthe case with Corach Rambler, who startedrunninginpoint-topoints forJohn Walsh in the winter of 2019-20.

John remembers him as aweak horseinhis early days buthebegan to matureasasix-year-old and startedthe 2020 autumn campaign with asecond at Ballingarry.

Eightdayslater Sean Staples rode him to winanoviceriders’ race at Monksgrange,and in November he joinedLucinda Russell for a£17,000 purchase pricethat hasturnedout to be one of the greatbargainsofrecent years

On Saturday, he attemptsto become only the second horseafter TigerRoll to winthe Grand National back-to-backsince thegreat Red Rum50yearsago.

People talk alot thesedaysabout howmuch the greatrace has changed,and you have onlytolook at the videos of the old days to appreciate that it’s averydifferent sort of race.However,the tale of Corach Rambler proves the event canstill produce arags-to-riches story.

TheIrish point-to-pointworld has greatly contributedtorecentGrand National history. Of the last six winners, only TigerRoll hasnot come from ourcorner of the scene

Ienjoyed an early experience on the 2016 winner Rule TheWorld, ridinghim to adebutwin at Affane as afour-year-old. Lucinda Russell’s 2017 winner OneFor Arthur ranfive times in points.When BarryO’Neill rode him to winatLingstown,third place went to Blaklion, the subsequentRSA Chasewinner who finishedfourthtohim in theNational and later wonthe BecherChase over the famous fences

When TigerRoll wonfor the first time in 2018, the horsehebeatwas the Laurencetownwinner Pleasant Company. Thefollowing year his victim wasMagic Of Light, whose career startedinapoint-to-pointat Killeagh.

Irodeinthe Belclaremaiden in which the John Nallen-trained MinellaTimes fell at the lastwhen

lookingset for victory. He looked a nice horseatthe time and went on to make historyfor RachaelBlackmore at Aintreealmostexactly four years later

The2022 winner Noble Yeats began hiscareerwith Donie Hassett and went very closetobeatinga John Nallen-trainedhorseat Ballindenisk on his only start.

Lastyear,Corach Ramblerwas chased home at Aintreeby Gavin Cromwell’s

‘Mahler Missioncould go wellfor Ben Harvey,who shared theunder-21title with BrianLawless notsolongago andisnow having hisfirstNational ride’

Vanillier,who startedinpointswith SamCurling.I’vehad agreat relationship with Samoverthe years, butI rememberIwas on the runner-up for Robert Tynerwhen Pa King rode Vanillier at the Dromahane meetingatthe end of December 2019.

finishedsecond in arace at Dromahane in 2020.

IthoughtVanillier hadagood prep run behind I Am Maximusinthe Bobbyjo at Fairyhousein Februaryand thetwo of them look likethey arethe leadingIrish challengers to CorachRambler on Saturday.

IAmMaximus, winner of last season’s Irish Grand National, is a French-bred whowas originally trainedbyNicky Henderson, butWillie Mullins also hastwo strong contendersfor the race who come from point-to-point backgrounds

Meetingofthewatersnotchedawin and twoseconds in his three runs for Eugene O’Sullivan, and Mr Incredible,second in the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter,is another Colin Bowe graduate.He

CormacDoyle wasresponsible for producingJohn McConnell’s National candidate Mahler Mission as afour-year-old. With anyluck, he could go well forBen Harvey,who shared the under-21 point-to-point title with Brian Lawlessnot so long ago and is now having his first National ride

Although Ihopeit’sone of the former Irish pointerswho takethe gloryonSaturday, I’ll alsowishthe best of lucktoGinaAndrews and the Ellis family whoserunner

Latenightpassrepresentsthe British point-to-pointcommunity.

Latenightpasshas wonnine of his 15 starts in points,and Gina rode him to winthe Foxhunter at Aintree twoyearsago.I think he could go well.

Ialsogiveanoutside chance to the DanSkelton-trainedGalia Des Liteaux,second in the Classic Chase at WarwickinJanuary, arace wonby OneFor Arthur beforehis National victory. Galia DesLiteauxwon a maiden at Loughanmorefor Donnchadh Doyle as afive-year-old. Offthe track, it’s abig weekfor the consignorsattomorrow’sGoffs

Aintreesalethat takes place after the runningofthe Goffs-sponsored mares’ bumper.Inits shorthistory, this sale hasproducedfive Grade 1 winners,and this season’scrophas theusual strong representation from Irish point-to-points Themostrecentadditions to the catalogue come from the mares’ maiden at the Louth meeting at Tattersalls lastSunday, the only fixture that went ahead on the weekend when StormKathleen hit the country, addingtothe problems we have facedduringthe recentwet spell.

JonathanFogarty’sFlamingGrove, adaughter of Blue Bresil, made a positiveimpression in winning by eightlengths under Conor Moore. Shelooks asmart prospect, andthe Sean Doyle-trained runner-up Dramatic Encoreshouldnot be long in making herpresencefelt

SheisbyWalk In TheParkout of LyricalTheatre, aKing’sTheatre mare, winner of three of her four bumper starts for the Mullins stable, and alsoa maiden hurdle scorer.She wasthirdinthe Grade 1mares’ novice hurdle at Fairyhouseand never finishedworse than third in nine starts.

Corach Ramblerwillattempt to become the second horseafter TigerRolltowin theGrand National back-to-back sinceRed Rum

EDWARD WHITAKER (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

FRUSTRATED committees around Ireland will be able to attest to provisional data publishedbyMet Eireann, which found that lastmonth wasone of the wettest Marchs on record.

Themeteorological service said therehad been aboveaveragerainfall since June 2023 and the cumulativeeffect has beenthat tracks across the countryhavestruggledtocope with saturatedground

Lastweekend’s programme wa s badly a ffe ct ed , wi th Curraghmoreand Ballynoe unfit for racing, while the Ulster National card at Downpatrick, whichwas due to host ahunter chase, wasalsorained off.Tattersalls wasthe only course to beat theelements, much to therelief of owners and handlers seeking one final chance to geta horse included in tomorrow’sGoffs sale at Aintree.

It wastestamenttohow well Tattersalls hadtaken the prolonged spellofwet weather, and ho ww el lr iders approachedthe conditions, that 32 of the 51 horseswho ran on Sundaycompleted the course.Itwas aratio that compared favourably with some of the few fixturesrun this season on drierground. Conditions areprovingtobe particularly challengingfor committees,withCurraghmore failing at asecond attempt to stage their fixture. Meanwhile, Ballynoehad been due to stage lastSunday’sGainmares’final, which is one of the highlights of the season formany.

Thechallengescontinue as it hasalreadybeenannounced that the Island committeehas hadtochangethe venuefor their fixture this Saturdayfrom the new courseofPeppards Castle to Ballycrystal.

Meanwhile,the firstoftwo fixturesfor the Laois Foxhounds in comingweeks hasalsofallen foul of theweather.

After an inspection of the trackatStradbally on Monday the coursewas found unfit for racingand,with an unfavourable forecast, Sunday’sfixture wascancelled.

Browne saddlesfirst winner under rules

TheGuineas trialsmeeting at Leopardstow nwould not typically come on to the radar of point-to-pointfollowers but the result of the final race on the card at the Foxrockvenue will have pleased many It sawSpeckledMeadow win the mile handicap to supply owner-trainer DonBrownewith his firstsuccess under rules

Th eCar ri gt wo hill ma n described the victoryas“a dream come true”, after the seven-year-old Footstepsinthesand mare came home threequartersofa length clear of the packunder Adam Caffrey Browne wasjoined in the Le opar dsto wn wi nner ’s enclosurebyhis sonAdrian, and the pair have enjoyeda successful couple of months, with Adrian havingriddenhis first winner when West Of Carrigwas apopular victor of

Fixtures fall butTattersalls refusestobeweather beaten

the winners-of-two eventat their local venueatBallyvodock in February

O’Neill drawsablank on return from injury

BarryO’Neill returned to the sa dd le at Ta tt er sal ls on Sunday, just threeweeks after injuring his backina fall at Knockanohill on St Patrick’s Day.

Hisswift return,alongside the recentweather woes that have sav the fixture li have lessene the potential damage to his title hopes At thetime of his injury the se ve ntime champion wa se ig h winnersclea DerekO’Conn , his fellowcountyman Rob James ten adrift of him

youngsters to thetrack, 28 horses have beencatalogued for the latest of Goffs’boutique point-to-pointsales at Aintree after racingonthe openingday of the Grand National meeting tomorrow.

Some 23 arefromIreland, 17 of whom arefour-year-olds

Just twohandlers, Colin Bowe andSean Doyle, are responsible for morethanone of the Irish lots at thesale, highlightingthe spread cess therehas namongthe ur-year-old and five-yearold divisions

In thesubsequent weeks it hasbeenJames who has capitalised with six winnersto closethe gapbetweenhimself and O’Neill to four However, O’Connor wasthe only one of the title contenders to getonthe scoreboard at Tattersalls,asitwas not the successful return to action that O’Neillhad beenhopingfor Histwo Colin Bowe-trained mounts,PureDesign and ConstitutionGrove, were pulleduponSunday.

Irelandconsigns bulk of Goffs boutique sale

Despitechallenging weather conditions limitingopportunitiesfor handlers to gettheir

Do yle consi gns a pair of fourye ar -olds , ncludingthe oc ka nohill den wi nner Quiz, butthe Wexfordhandler will likely also be keepinganeye on howthe sale’s openinglot fares.

It wasDoyle whosaddled Love Envoi(above)towin a mares’ point-to-pointbumper at Wexfordracecourse in March2021 whenpoint-topointingwas suspendedfor a sec ond tim ed ue to the Covid-19 pandemic

Since being sold by Doyle for £38,000, she haswon more than £252,000 (€293,000)in prize-moneyfor her owners, the No el Fe hi ly Ra ci ng syndicate, andisnow being offered at the sale havingbeen retired at the end of aseasonin which shefinished secondin the FightingFifth Hurdle at Sandownand the Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham ather vag ist d n t aro or, with highlightin succ been fo a o c p y in

Owner-trainerDon Browne after recording hisfirsttrack success with Speckled Meadow

LOUTH AT TATTERSALLS SUNDAY SEASON’S LEADERS

Noel McParlan

Riders

Barry O’Neill 26

Rob James 22

Derek O’Connor 21

Noel McParlan 17

Jack Hendrick 17

Darragh Allen 15

John Barry 15

Brian Lawless 13

Michael Sweeney 11

Dara McGill 11

North

Noel McParlan 14

Dara McGill 7

Barry O’Neill 5

Oran McGill 3

Eoin Mahon 2

South

Darragh Allen 14

John Barry 10

Derek O’Connor 8

Declan Queally 6

Johnny Hurley 5 East

Jack Hendrick 16

Barry O’Neill 14

Rob James 13

Derek O’Connor 8

Brian Lawless 6 West

Alan O’Sullivan 5

Susie Doyle 4

Brian Lawless 4

Barry O’Neill 4

Derek O’Connor 4

Ladies

Susie Doyle 7

Maxine O’Sullivan 5

Toni Quail 4

Joanna Walton 3

Hannah Phillips 3 Handlers

Colin Bowe 24

Declan Queally 18

David Christie 13

Gerald Quinn 11

Michael Goff 11

Horses

De Nordener 4

Don’t Matter Now 4

Ramillies 4

Winged Leader 4

Ballyphilip 3

Hitak 3

Sires

Soldier Of Fortune 24

Ocovango 19

Mahler 18

Mount Nelson 16

Malinas 15

Rerouted Neo King maintains McCaldin’s winning spree

CAROLINE McCALDIN had hoped to scoop a hunter chase with Neo King at Downpatrick but, after that venue was waterlogged, her decision to reroute to the weekend’s sole surviving meeting paid off

The Coastal Path gelding had brought some of the strongest form into the DNG Duffy winners-of-two contest, having finished second to Romeo Magico in a hunter chase at Down Royal last month on his debut for McCaldin’s in-form Dromara stable

Although it was the experienced Wine An Dine who led the field to the penultimate fence, Noel McParlan bided his time on the six-year-old before striking the front at the last, then pulling clear to win by two and a half lengths

“He stays all day, the step up in trip helped him from Down Royal and he loves the tough going,” said Wilson Dennison, father of the winning handler

“He was declared for the Downpatrick hunter chase but came here when that was called off If it’s rescheduled, we’ll head back to it.”

Th at wa s one of tw o successes on the card for northern raiders as David Christie’s Ask D’Man bounced back to form in the Louth Hunt Members open for novice riders

The ten-year-old, winner of seven races before being sidelined for 18 months, had not returned in the same form this season with three underwhelming efforts

However, his trainer again showed why he has such a talent for rejuvenating older horses as the chestnut lowered the colours of Grade 1 winner Battleoverdoyen.

Hi s tw o-le ng th vict or y supplied winning rider Shane Cotter with the seventh success

Star performance

Flamingo Grove was in a different league to her nine rivals as she powered clear up the hill to win in decisive fashion

of his first season in the saddle.

“When the horses came back in after the summer, they just were not themselves,” Christie said. “This horse started to bloom only a fortnight ago. He came in his coat and you see him now, he’s thriving.

“Before that my son kept saying to me that he was just not himself; he didn’t have the strength in him. However, for the last two weeks they have hardly been able to pull him up after his work and this is his usual self, so it was great to see him do that today.”

Jonathan Fogarty looks to have unearthed another smart youngster in Flamingo Grove, who made the perfect start to her career with an easy success in the Tattersalls NH and DG McArdle International fouryear-old mares’ maiden.

A €38,000 purchase at last year’s Goffs Arkle sale, the Blue Bresil mare cruised through her debut in the hands of Conor Moore and although Getaways Charm tried briefly to lay down a challenge from th e pe nu lti mat e fe nce , Flamingo Grove came clear to beat Sean Doyle’s Dramatic Encore by eight lengths

“It’s our first four-year-old runner since the new year, so it was good to see that the fitness was there because it’s hard enough to judge. Even though she works well at home, you don’t really know until you run one,” Moore said of the bay who will be offered at the Goffs Aintree sale

Doyle also had to settle for the runner-up spot in the other

mares’ maiden, the Fyffes fiveyear-old-and-upwards, when his Castlelands final-fence faller Madame Le’Strange proved no match for Nastya

That winning daughter of Vendangeur had been well backed ahead of her debut at Turtulla in November when fin ish in g sec ond to St ar Walking.

Her Turtulla conqueror, sold for £115,000 in December, gave the form a boost earlier in the we ek when op enin g her account for new trainer Harry Fry at Fakenham, and Maike Magnussen’s patient approach was rewarded when Pa King’s mount ran out a decisive eightlength winner

“I’m very happy for the people who are with me and support me all the way and very grateful when it works out,” Magnussen said.

“She was second on her debut to a horse who went on to sell very well and I knew she would progress for that as she is a scopey, big mare who just needed the time to come together.”

Nastya was one of three winners on the card to be added to the catalogue for tomorrow’s Goffs Aintree sale, with Jig’s Forge joining her on the trip to Liverpool. That was after he proved too good for his ten rivals in the Keelings fiveyear-old geldings’ maiden. Derek O’Connor’s sole ride

at the Ratoath venue allowed the 11-time national champion to demonstrate again why few others can pull off a waiting ride as well as he can.

Switching off the Ballyragget third at the rear of the field, he allowed the leaders to start racing exiting the back straight while biding his time, content to creep into contention on Ro ss O’Su lliv an’s so n of Westerner

Once pouncing off the home bend, the pair swiftly had the measure of the Borris House runner-up Wa lking On A Dream to run out snug fourlength winner.

“He’s a really likeable horse because he’s improved from run to run, and he is after beating a good competitive field soundly,” O’Connor said.

“He was galloping away at the line

“He loved the conditions and jumped really well and he’s a horse who is progressive, so I think he could be very nice.”

Having gaine d his first su ccess of the se as on at Lisronagh a fortnight earlier, Waterford rider David Kiely was back in the winner ’s enclosure as he again teamed up with his brother Paddy to land the College Proteins older geldings’ maiden with Ooksoo

The Kalanisi gelding had been narrowly denied at that Tipperary venue, but he made

amends by powering eight lengths clear of the favourite, Josies Dylan At the age of ten, Ooksoo cannot quite lay claim to being the oldest maiden winner this season, having been outdone by the 11-yearold Love And Wishes at Toomebridge earlier in the campaign, but it was still a performance to vindicate the patience of his connections, as the winning handler explained.

“He had a bit of trouble when he was with Emmett Mullins and then John Kiely had him,” Paddy Kiely said.

“My son works in John’s and when he got a bit of leg trouble we took him and gave him the time and he’s after coming right.

“He has plenty of ability. He’s rated very low on the track and we may go for a winners’ race, but ultimately we will end up on the track.”

(Above) Jig’s Forge (near side) gets the better of Walking On A Dream after a patient ride from Derek O’Connor to land the five-year-old geldings’ maiden; (right) Shane Cotter records his seventh success of the season on board Ask D’Man in the open for novice riders

leads the Northern region riders’ table

World Champion Racehorse in 2019, first crop 3-year-olds in 2024

❝Crystal Ocean’s foals have caused quite the stir in the sale ring and his progeny continue to be in high demand ❞ InternationalThoroughbred, NH Special 2024

First crop have already sold for: Buyers included:

Fee: €8,000

The second-highest rated son of SEA THE STARS behind only BAAEED (Fee: £80,000)

❝Crystal Ocean promises to be one of the stories of this year’s store sales. Stand by for some big prices.

MartinStevens, Good Morning